- Mozambique is noting "growing attractiveness as an investment destination," according to the World Bank. The Bank's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), which facilitates foreign investments, is noting a steadily increasing interest in Mozambique and a MIGA delegation is now to visit the country.

Yukiko Omura, MIGA Executive Vice-President, is expected to highlight in an upcoming visit "Mozambique's growing attractiveness as an investment destination and the considerable progress made fighting poverty in recent years," according to information released today by the World Bank.

- We at MIGA look forward to enhancing the role we play on this front, by helping the country attract additional foreign direct investment, a key driver of economic growth, says Ms Omura. MIGA provides non-commercial risk insurance to foreign investments in its developing member countries, as well as advisory services to help governments attract and retain investment.

During her 23-27 February visit, Ms Omura is set to meet with Mozambique's Prime Minister, a host of ministry officials, and local business representatives. She will also visit a number of projects - including the Mozal aluminium project, the Sasol gas project, the Maputo Port and the Marromeu sugar project - in which MIGA played a role in getting massive foreign investments off the ground.

The visit will be capped off by a trip to the Cabo Delgado province where Ms Omura will meet with local business representatives from the tourism and shrimp farming industries. Cabo Delgado is located in Mozambique's far north and remains one of the country's less developed and most impoverished regions.

Mozambique became a member of MIGA in 1994 and MIGA has facilitated roughly US$ 2.8 billion in foreign direct investment in the country to date. The country is the sixth largest host country for MIGA-guaranteed investments, totalling US$ 313 million in gross exposure, according to the World Bank.

MIGA's outstanding portfolio in Mozambique consists of nine projects in the agribusiness, infrastructure, manufacturing, oil and gas, services and the tourism sectors. The World Bank agency also provides assistance to Mozambique's Investment Promotion Centre (CPI).

Among the large investment projects within the infrastructure sector currently going on in Mozambique is the Beira Railway Project. The Beira railway connects the central Mozambican port city Beira with the Southern African railroad network through the Zambezi River Valley and Zimbabwe. The ongoing project is upgrading this historic connection to make efficient passenger and freight transport available in the Zambezi Valley, accelerate economic growth in the sub-region and increase international traffic.

Other large international investment projects are connected to the industrialisation of Mozambique, which offers among the cheapest labour of the region. This includes the giant Mozal aluminium smelter close to the capital, Maputo, which is to produce 250,000 tonnes of aluminium annually using power imported from South Africa. Further, it includes the development of Mozambican natural gas fields, the construction of a central processing facility and an 865 km cross-border gas pipeline from Mozambique to South Africa.

Apart from large-scale investments in infrastructure and industry, Mozambique is currently receiving a large number of smaller investments in its booming tourism sector. South Africans have already discovered the tourism potential in their neighbour country and Mozambique is being prepared to receive growing numbers of intercontinental tourist within few years. This in particular includes the region close to Maputo and Cabo Delgado in the far north.

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